


You Still Awake?

by DarkCellar



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Developing Relationship, Eventual Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gay Male Character, I Ship It, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kylux - Freeform, Love, M/M, One True Pairing, Relationship(s), Romantic Fluff, Short & Sweet, Smoking, Star Wars - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24743998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkCellar/pseuds/DarkCellar
Summary: Not a whole lot of things bother Ben Solo about the guy he’s been sleeping with, Armitage Hux; except for one teeny tiny detail: Hux smokes like a damn chimney.But all Ben can do is grit his teeth and bear it. After all, it’s not like he can demand Hux quit. He’s only his lover, after all, and NOT his boyfriend ...... right?
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	You Still Awake?

Ben coughed, and took several long swallows from the water bottle he had sitting on the floor.

“How can you stand that?”, he asked the person beside him, fanning away the heavy wisps that had made their way to his nose.

“You mean that noise? It’s just the ice cube dispenser in the fridge. It’ll stop in a few minutes.”

Ben gave him a long look. “You know that’s not what I’m talking about. I mean your smoke-stick. What is that, your third one in like, ten minutes?”

“Didn’t realize you were counting.”

“I wish you wouldn’t smoke so much.”

Hux sighed and blew another thick cloud into the air. “ **I** wish you wouldn’t complain so much, but I guess we don’t always get what we want, do we?”

“I’m being serious. Do you know what it’s like kissing someone who smokes? It’s like licking an ashtray.”

Hux grinned and said, slyly, “Compared to all the other things you’ve been licking, an ashtray shouldn’t be that big of a deal for you, babe.”

Now it was Ben’s turn to sigh. It was Saturday night, and as usual, he found himself in Armitage Hux’s bed. Although they had been sleeping with each other for almost half a year, Ben honestly wasn’t sure whether what they had was an actual, legitimate relationship.

But he wasn’t sleeping with anyone else, and he was fairly certain that Hux wasn’t, either. The two didn’t live together but they spent quite a bit of time at one or the others’ apartments.

But Hux ...

He was so quiet, so serious, so hard to read. Unless they were having sex, he wasn’t really one to give physical gestures of affection, like a hug, or a kiss.

And in all this time, neither man had uttered the fabled “I love you” to the other. Ben _wanted_ to; but he was almost positive that doing so would scare Hux away, and ruin whatever it was that they DID have with each other.

Still, though, Ben occasionally tested the waters by making requests of Hux that would only be made by a man that you’re dating; hence him bringing up Hux’s smoking habit.

“Alright, if not for me, then think about quitting for you. For your health. You’re only 32; do you want to catch lung cancer or something?”

Hux laughed and finished off the rest of his cigarette, taking a final toke before crushing it out in the ashtray on nightstand.

“Lung cancer? You’re quite the dramatic one, aren’t you? Don’t worry so much; I smoke menthols.”

“What does that mean?”

“Menthols are lighter than normal cigarettes. Less chemicals. Kinda like diet soda compared to regular soda.”

“Honestly doesn’t sound much better. Hey if it’s just like, a need to smoke, why not smoke weed instead? Healthier and stress-relieving.”

Hux made a face of disgust. “I can’t stand the way weed smells. It smells like a dead skunk.”

“Okay, because cigarette smoke smells like potpourri.”

Hux sighed and turned over, facing away from Ben. “I have an early day tomorrow, so if you insist on staying, please be quiet and go to sleep, alright?”

“How do you have an early day? Tomorrow is Sunday; you don’t work.”

“7am yoga class.”

Ben smiled a bit at that. Yoga class was where he and Hux had first met. Ben had been advised to go by his doctor when he was experiencing back pain, and Hux was a regular student. Ben stuck it out for two weeks, just enough time to get himself feeling loose and limber again, before bailing. Yoga wasn’t really his preferred form of exercise; he was more into running and lifting weights. He had actually wanted to leave yoga after the first week, but chose to hang around a second in order to keep talking to Hux ... and eventually get a date with him.

Or as much of a ‘date’ as five drinks at a bar followed by sloppy sex in Ben’s car constituted. And Ben was pleased that Hux was even MORE limber in his backseat than he was on a yoga mat ... which was really saying something.

But what had started off as a purely physical thing had evolved, or at least it had for Ben. Hux, on the other hand —

Ben waited a few moments, then scooted over closer to Hux, and attempted to put his arms around him, to cuddle him while they slept. But Hux, of course, completely mistook the gesture.

“Do you need more covers? Here,” Hux said, pushing more of the blanket back towards a frustrated Ben. “‘Night.”

“Goodnight,” Ben replied, softly. He turned over himself and closed his eyes, trying to calm his disappointment enough to fall asleep.

Eventually, he succeeded.

— —

_You still awake?_

Ben looked at his phone with a sigh. It was a little after 1am, several days later, and Ben had woken up to the sound of his phone vibrating on little table by his bed. Hux would send him these messages every so often, and Ben, of course, would all but fly over to him. But tonight, he just wasn’t in the mood. He’d had a long day at the shipping warehouse he worked at, and all he wanted to do was stay in his own bed and sleep.

 **really tired** , was what he ended up replying.

He put his phone back down and closed his eyes again, thinking that would be the end of it. But not more than 30 seconds later, his phone vibrated again, and Ben picked it up in exasperation.

_Can I come see you?_

Ben shook his head. It was rare for Hux to volunteer to come to HIM. He must be unusually horny or something, Ben thought, as he replied with **sure.**

He pulled himself out of bed and made his way into the bathroom, to brush his teeth. He really ought to try and take a quick shower before Hux came, but just didn’t have the energy for it. If Hux wanted him that badly then he would make due with a little unpleasantness.

And besides, Hux would just have the place reeking of smoke soon enough.

Ben went to unlock his front door, then texted Hux to tell him the door was open, before getting back in bed. He leaned back against the headboard, closing his eyes. He only meant to doze for a few seconds, but suddenly Hux was in front of him, shaking his shoulder.

“Ben?”

Ben woke up with a start, blinking against the lamp that Hux had turned on. “Oh ... hey.”

“Hey. Sorry to be bugging you, I know it’s late, but I just couldn’t sleep and I thought I’d sleep better if I was here.”

Ben tilted his head, confused. This didn’t sound like any of the segues into sex that he was used to. Nevertheless, he played it off and said, “Oh, okay. You want to watch a movie or something?”

Hux nodded, and Ben grabbed his remote and handed it to him, saying, “You find something. But nothing too loud, please.”

“You’re positive I’m not bothering you by being here? You really DO seem tired.”

“I’m fine,” Ben replied, stifling a yawn. “Busy day at work, that’s all.”

“What happened?”

This was even odder; Hux never really asked him about his day. So Ben began to talk in-depth about all the orders he’d had to fill, finding himself a little self-conscious at the undivided attention Hux was giving him.

“Your job sounds really hard,” Hux commented when Ben was through. “Also, I wasn’t aware that you were allowed to ship weapons through the mail.”

“Huh?”

Grinning, Hux reached over and touched Ben’s bare arm, saying, “You’ve got quite the set of ‘guns’ on you.”

Ben blushed. For Hux to say that was nice, but — was THIS it? It wasn’t unusual for Hux to make a comment or two about a body part of Ben’s, before going in for the kill.

But instead of making a move, Hux picked up the remote and turned on the tv, flipping through the channels. With his other hand, he started to reach for his left pajama pocket, which was where he’d normally keep his pack of smokes, and stopped, making a little face.

_Huh ... he must have accidentally left them at home. Lucky me._

Once Hux found something, the two began to watch quietly. Ben struggled to stay awake as long as he could, but sleep over took him, and he went into it without a murmur of protest.

He woke up the next morning to his alarm going off — and an empty bed. No sign of Hux anywhere; even the side of the bed he had been on was smooth and unwrinkled.

 _Okay; I must have just dreamt that he was here_ , Ben thought to himself, as he began getting ready for work.

Later in the day, during his lunch, his phone vibrated in his pocket, and he switched his ham and cheese sandwich to his other hand, to pull it out.

_Come over after work?_

Ben grinned a little. Clever, Hux; he couldn’t get into the sleepy Ben’s pants last night, so now he was rectifying his failure by inviting him over when he’d have that fresh-out-of-work energeticness.

Ben thumbs-up’d the text, then continued to eat his lunch. Earlier, on his first break, his mother had texted him to ask him to come to dinner that weekend. His mother and father lived up in the countryside, about a three and a half hour drive from Ben’s place in the city. Ben wished he had the time and money to visit his aging parents more often. He also wished, although it was a long shot, that sometime soon, he could bring Hux home to meet them.

He knew his mother worried about him being ‘single’ for nearly ten years, and would be beyond thrilled if Ben brought Hux to dinner. 

But with the confusing way that things were between them ...

 _Oh, well_ , Ben thought, taking another bite of his sandwich, _Maybe in another ten years I’ll have a REAL boyfriend to bring home._

—

“Hey.”

“Hey!”, Hux said, sounding uncharacteristically excited, when Ben showed up at his door several hours later. “Come in. You hungry?”

Ben’s nose led him into Hux’s kitchen, where an absolutely delightful looking meal had been laid out. Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob ...

“Did you make all this?”

Hux nodded. “Yeah. That one store was having a poultry sale so I thought, you know, why not make some chicken?”

Ben sat down at the table, and Hux poured him a glass of wine.

“So how was work _today_?” he asked, as he began putting together a plate for Ben.

This was weird. Hux was acting WEIRD.

“Are you feeling okay?”

Hux set Ben’s plate in front of him, before taking his own seat. “Yeah. Why?”

Ben shrugged and picked up his fork. “No reason.” He took a generous bite of chicken, and smiled. “Ah; this is fantastic!”

Hux smiled. “Thanks. It’s not too dry?”

Ben shook his head and took another bite. “It’s perfect. Just to warn you, I’m probably gonna want seconds. Possibly thirds.”

Hux chuckled and nodded. “Have as much as you want, Ben. I made this for you, after all.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. Reciprocation for that lasagna you made me.”

Ben blinked. “Seriously? That was like, three weeks ago.”

“Better a late thank-you than never, huh?”

Ben nodded, and asked Hux questions about HIS day. As he listened to Hux talk, he couldn’t help but marvel at how domestic this all felt, how normal.

How _nice_.

Just as Ben was clearing his plate for the second time, Hux cleared his throat, and said, “Hey, Ben?”

“Yeah?”

“So ... don’t laugh, but, I decided to try and quit smoking.”

Ben put down his fork, shocked. “Whoa ... seriously?”

Hux nodded. “Yeah. Um, I got the patch thing,” he said, rolling up his sleeve to show Ben, “And so far I’ve been making due with just two cigarettes a day, you know, until I can cut them out completely.”

“That ... that’s great, Hux! But why the sudden change of heart?”

“I thought about what you said, about quitting for my health. I started to think it’s stupid how I bust my ass to go to yoga every week but then I turn around and fill my lungs with tar. And, um, that other thing you said.”

“What else did I say?”

Hux got up and began clearing things off the table. “You said that kissing someone who smokes is like licking an ashtray. And ... I don’t want you to feel like that when you kiss ME. Because ... you know you’re my boyfriend and all, and I should try and be more considerate of how you feel.”

He had turned on the water and was soaping up dishes, but Ben sat stark-still, his fork still in mid-air from his utter shock. 

“I’m sorry ... did you say that I’m your boyfriend??”

Hux nodded, although he was still facing the sink. “Well, yeah. Aren’t you? I mean we’ve been seeing each other for like six months and we spend so much time together, so I thought —“

He trailed off, and it went silent between them. Finally, Ben got out of his chair, went to Hux, and wrapped his arms around his waist. He had never tried this before, and he absolutely loved how easily his arms fit around the slender redhead. Kissing the back of his neck, he murmured, “That’s probably the best thing you’ve ever said to me,” and then, his heart thudding, he added, “I love you,” and held his breath for the response.

Hux turned in his arms and kissed Ben with his soft, full lips, replying, “I love you, too.”

He turned back to the dishes. “If you’re done, bring me your plate, please, so I can get dessert.”

But Ben didn’t let go, instead kissing slowly down the back of Hux’s neck once more. “Dessert? But all I wanna taste is YOU.”

Hux shut off the water and turned around, a smirk on his face. “Oh? Really?”

Ben answered him by lifting him off his feet and carrying him towards the bedroom. He’d ask Hux about meeting his parents later, when he was in a more agreeable mood.

And Ben was prepared to do any and everything, to get Hux there as fast as possible.


End file.
